Busy weekend coming up; Gruff Rhys, Cate Le Bon and Y Niwl tomorrow night, followed by big haired guitar legend Pat Metheny on Sunday.

I'm really looking forward to Gruff, having missed the last round of shows that he did with Y Niwl.

Achieved a (half) lifelong ambition last night, and saw Faith No More - and with a set list I broadly would have chosen half my life ago. They opened with a cover of Delilah.

psychiatra granica wrote:


Never got to see them, refused to go to the NEC 20 years ago as you see fuck all and feel nothing.

Not a big fan but a mate had tickets, so I went to Faith No More last night and really enjoyed it. They finished with We Care A Lot, which remains a favourite from the Chart Show years.

I was very unimpressed with punters trying to carry multiple squashy beer glasses into the crowd above head height. Actually spilling beer over my head and shoulders doesn't count as an improvement on spilling it over my shoes.

Benjm wrote:


It was a great show. Loved Y Niwl and Cate Le Bon, was a bit sad they only seemed to get 25 minutes each, but Gruff was terrific. Skylon was wonderfully played out. Fortunately I just missed getting sprayed with the fire extinguisher.

Cate Le Bon was great. I hadn't seen her before and was expecting something a bit more spectral, but her set had a satisfyingly Velvets-y chug to it.

I caught a band Other Lives recently - excellent gig, kind of an accident I got to go there but really recommend them
they play Dublin on July 21 - well worth checking out
(Also play in Suffolk on Sunday 15)

Shit any band with a cellist and two percussionists has to be heard


otherlives.com/tour

Had to leave Radiohead early tonight. It was the first time I'd seen them live since 1993, even back then I understood they'd be massively popular, but thought them a bit meh.

Tonight was horrendous, they did the new stuff first and worked their way backwards through the back-catalogue. I start to get a bad back when I can't move in a crowded environment, and after an hour and a half I was in agony. I kept in there because I really like "Karma Police" and thought the second I decided to leave the festival site, they'd play it. But in the end the boredom and mundanity of it all was too much, I managed to get to the train station and catch a train and Tom Yorke was still whining along to the same indistinguishable rhythmic drumming chorus he'd been nattering on to all night.

I'm delighted to be able to report a better experience than steveeeeee's Radiohead disaster.

The Shins - Hordern Pavilion 25th July

A great evening. Met my mate Simon for a pizza (well mine was a calzone) at La Bora in Barrack Street (Sydney folk - recommended - next to The Athenian) then an easy drive over to Moore Park in time to buy a beer before Husky, the support. They are a nice four-piece with echoes of Augie March, light hints of Fleet Foxes and a minute sprinkling of Crowded House. Simon (a guitar player and teacher) reckoned they need an electric lead guitar here and there; it's acoustic all the way. I tend to agree with him.

Then another drink and back in for The Shins, AKA James Mercer and his newly assembled Shins. They opened with Kissing the Lipless, the opening track from the second album, and it was quickly obvious it would be good, Mercer's voice is strong and his range good. He has the band working very tightly with guitars cranked up compared to the records which works well for a live environment; more oomph without losing the essence of the songs. Key to this was his lead guitarist Jessica Dobson. Simon described her as a "hot girl with hot guitars" so he was happy. They didn't really put a foot wrong, and whilst at least half of the new album 'Port of Morrow' was featured, not only does it stand up against the first three albums which were dipped into liberally, they only constituted around 40% of the whole. Plenty of highlights but for me:

New Slang off the first album - a mellower moment - lovely song
Australia
Sleeping Lessons
Girl Sailor

No idea if they will be in your neck of the woods but go if you get the chance.

Scritti Politti at the Hebden Bridge Trades Club a week on Saturday. Can't wait.

I went on a pub crawl around Hebden in January 2010. The snow was crunchy underfoot, the fires in each hostelry were roaring and the booze was plentiful. The Trades was the last place I went to and I was absolutely in awe of the place and its place in the community. Guinness was stupidly cheap and I ended up having to run for the last train home, that I promptly fell asleep on.

Off to see Hal Willner's Freedom Riders concert at the Festival Hall on Sunday. It could be a bit po-faced but I've seen a couple of his other themed shows (pirates, Disney) and there's usually some good stuff there.

Also, the bold scheduling decision to go up against the Olympic closing ceremony seems to have resulted in sluggish ticket sales and tickets are now £10 rather than £40 (discount code for South Bank website is LONDON).

Seeing PIL tomorrow night, particularly interesting after seeing Wobble & Levine at the end of May ... and Mark Stewart coming up in September. Other than that, very small gigs: Arthur Gun, and the wonderful, ever improving Horse Brothers.

MsD wrote:

Brilliant. Lydon in great voice and very charismatic. Other musicians fine, esp. Bruce Smith on drums.

Probably get murdered for this but I saw Peter Hook at the Hop Farm festival, not realising who he was, and think it was the best gig I've seen since Andrew Bird a few weeks before. Loved them both.

MsD wrote:


Saw them last week in Wolverhampton and concur; excellent performance, JL in fine fettle and nary a pat of butter to be seen. Must also comment on the great sound at Wulfrun Hall, well done the sound crew!

PiL are supplying their own sound - the sound on this tour has been crystal clear in venues where it is usually muddy or overly bassy (the Forum being a case in point, I've been to several gigs there in the oast few years and haven't been able to distinguish one song from another).

1974ddr wrote:


The Wulfrun always had great sound when I went there nearly 20 years ago, still miss it.

Going to this tomorrow (Friday) night.

But why, oh why, do bands who make vaguely dance-oriented musics always have to feel obliged to make their gigs run along 'club' hours too? (In other words I'm old, unfit, slothful, don't take drugs and would much rather get a full-ish night's sleep after any gig ...in my own bed!)

I hear you, evilc, but fair play to you for not giving up. I have passed on Soulwax's last couple of visits for bedtime related reasons. No drugs does make a difference on the endurance front too, which is sad to admit.

It happened to be well worth it, in the end. Here are my ramblings on the event.